When during the hurricane Flybarre instructor Shay Kostabi dropped a hint on Facebook that she had a barre in her Brooklyn apartment, we got immediately jealous. We've nearly pulled a towel bar off the bathroom wall wishing we had one to practice our pulses and ab work on. (Especially that week.) Fortunately, Kostabi was nice enough to invite us over and show us her favorite living-room feature. Check it out...

Photos and text by Melisse Gelula

 

Kostabi's husband is the sweet mastermind behind the barre. He used curtain-rod hardware, which gives it a look that's a bit more fitting for their living room, and anchors to hold it securely to the wall. All the pieces we purchased at Home Depot.

 

"I came home one day in June, and there it was," Kostabi says.

At the time, the newly hired Flybarre instructor had just been handed the class choreography—including Barre Abs, arguably the toughest sequence. (For Barre Abs, you lie on your back, tuck your toes under the barre, and crunch up to the barre with light weights in your hands—not an easy task.)

"I had a couple of weeks before I had to teach them and hadn't learned them myself, says Kostabi. The Flybarre studio was still under construction.

"Now I say to students that I had to learn Barre Abs, too, so I'm proof it can be done!"

 

Kostabi doesn't try to hide the barre from her "real" living room furniture. (You can see a sitting chair to the left.) Instead she just keeps her props nearby—a foam roller, kettlebell, meticulously placed resistance bands, and weighted black bar. And unlike the fitness props found in many New Yorkers's apartments, those belonging to super-fit Kostabi don't have a bit of dust on them.

 

Kostabi uses her barre-at-home at least twice a week to either run-through new material, practice class, or just do her own workouts. "Guests are always surprised that I have the space for a barre and that my husband actually put it in for me. Everybody thinks it's really cool. Some just people hang their coats on it."

 

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